'The Daily Show,' Rolling Stone, and MTV: Obama's youth vote push
President Obama is going to appear on 鈥�The Daily Show鈥� with Jon Stewart before the November elections. Last night the White House announced that Obama will tape a segment for the show on October 27.
What鈥檚 the point of that? Is the president angling to get a good spot on the stage for Mr. Stewart鈥檚 鈥�Rally to Restore Sanity,鈥� which will be held on the National Mall the following weekend? Or is he just trying to make Stephen Colbert jealous?
Well, he鈥檚 probably not going to hang around Washington for the 鈥淪anity鈥� meeting and Mr. Colbert鈥檚 competing 鈥�March to Keep Fear Alive.鈥� In all likelihood Obama will be out campaigning that weekend in a last-minute push to avoid a Democratic electoral apocalypse. Obama has called the dueling-rally premise 鈥渁musing鈥�, but that鈥檚 not exactly a full-throated endorsement is it?
No, Obama is appearing on 鈥淭he Daily Show鈥� for the same reason he recently gave an interview to 鈥�Rolling Stone鈥� and appeared in an hour-long MTV "town hall" 鈥� young voters. He鈥檚 trying hard to fire up a cohort that went overwhelmingly for Democrats in 2008. The audience for Stewart鈥檚 show skews young, and many of them view it as a main source of news, even if the producers insist their product is really a hybrid of pseudo-news and comedy.
So expect Obama to tell Stewart that young Democrats need to get 鈥渇ired up and ready to go鈥� and so forth 鈥� or the 鈥淢arch to Keep Fear Alive鈥� will win. When the president talked to 鈥淩olling Stone鈥� he wheeled back and returned to the room after the interview was over to emphasize the point about the need for Democrats to show some enthusiasm. The big rally the president and First Lady Michelle Obama held at Ohio State University last weekend was another event at least partly designed to appeal to the young.
The persuasion isn鈥檛 working too well so far, by the way 鈥� polls continue to show that GOP voters are more enthusiastic about November than Democrats.
We鈥檒l raise one final point here 鈥� the question as to whether Jon Stewart is a Democrat.
Stewart himself has long said that he and his show are non-partisan, but that when he sees something he regards as silly, he points it out. However, Obama appeared on his show just prior to the 2008 elections, and the studio audience greeted him with a rousing round of applause (even though, as Stewart pointed out to them, Obama was not actually there, but in Florida. He was appearing via video feed.)
鈥淐濒别补谤濒测, , if you will,鈥� said Stewart at the time.
